This document represents an attempt to collate
and clarify the various audio and video recordings of Kate & Anna
McGarrigle. With only 11 albums to their name over a period of 35 years - not
counting a 2011 3CD compilation - the sisters would not be considered
particularly prolific as commercial recording artists but, as the list on the
left of this page testifies, their efforts actually extended much further, with
many contributions to compilations or as backing vocalists on other artists recordings.

Kate & Anna performed on the folk
circuit for a number of years during the late 60s and early 70s in various
guises - as part of Le Trio Canadien, The Mountain City Four, Kate solo and with Roma Baran, and
eventually as a duo, but record company interest had been negligible. Their
initial involvement on released records was restricted to guest contributions:
Anna (as part of a Kate-less Mountain City Four) on a Chris Rawlings LP
released in mid-1970 and Kate on her then-husband Loudon Wainwright’s second
album released in mid-1971. However, their earliest known commercially
distributed recording dates from some years earlier. While it is sometimes
reported that they were invited to compose the soundtrack for Helicopter
Canada, a 50-minute film directed by Eugen Boyko for the National Film Board of
Canada in 1966, this would appear to be something of an exaggeration as their
contribution was limited to a Mountain City Four performance of Kate's
"The Bluenose," one of several songs with similar titles devoted to the
eponymous schooner that became famous in the 1930s. Eventually
their involvement in two Maria Muldaur albums led to a record deal with
Warner Brothers and the release, in late 1975, of a highly acclaimed debut LP.
[For the comprehensive story you are advised to seek out Dane Lanken's (husband
of Anna) wonderful book Songs & Stories.]

While these pages are devoted to commercially
released recordings there are occasions when unreleased material has been
included. Details have been compiled from original UK, US & Canadian LPs and
CDs together with relevant VHS and DVD releases. There are relatively few items
from continental Europe that warrant consideration but occasionally something
unique or important has been included. Undoubtedly there are further
unreleased recordings that do not appear here – particularly material that Kate
& Anna would have created together at home as demos or for their own
amusement. Nevertheless, while it would be well nigh impossible to compile a
definitive sessionography, some effort has been made to draw together known
loose strands and include relevant details here. It is not unreasonable to
suggest that, despite continued critical acclaim, record companies found it
difficult to decide how to promote McGarrigles product and, during the vinyl
era, relatively few of their recordings were released as 45rpm singles. The ascendency of the CD
meant that the last album pressed on vinyl was Heartbeats Accelerating
(although this was limited to a European release only) and from Matapedia
onwards albums became exclusively CD - the only exception being a 2010 release
of The McGarrigle Hour as a 2 LP set. Commercial CD singles were non-existent
although there are a number of their guest appearances that feature on such, and an
attempt has been made to include these - both commercial & promo -
where appropriate. Some judicious editing has been applied to Rufus
Wainwright releases which sometimes have variations in format that
would be superfluous here.

A certain degree of fluidity must be accepted
when accessing these pages; it must be appreciated that recordings of songs are
often created over a period of time and may therefore span different studios and
dates. Incorporate the complexities of overdubbing, mixing, mastering etc and
the pursuit of any significant "date" to attach to a particular recording
becomes something of a futile exercise. This in itself raises a simple question:
should items be listed in order of release dates or "recording" dates? This
document has been designed to offer both options. The navigation bar on the left
enables immediate access to any individual recording with entries listed roughly
in chronological order of release. Further, a more detailed
list, with dates, song titles and selected artwork, can be accessed from this
link: List by recording date - compiled (with a high
degree of guesswork) in order of recording. Neither approach is
definitive. Alternatively you may browse entries by category via the navigation
bar on the right which appears on every page. There are an unusually high proportion of guest appearances
(including a number on rather obscure Canadian releases) which are all included.
Some have re-appeared on alternate releases by the principal artist and they
are annotated on individual album pages where appropriate. Usually, where
such guest appearances have been included, other tracks from that album have
been omitted. However, there are a few instances when an album has been included
wholesale - perhaps because there is some doubt as to precise McGarrigle
participation. This strategy may sometimes appear illogical. Additionally,
re-releases of older LPs on CD have sometimes added unusual non-contemporaneous
recordings. Film and TV soundtracks occasionally prove problematical. Kate, Anna
& Jane provided incidental music for a number of films, and details have, for the
most part, been simplified for this document. To annotate every second of such
music would not be impossible but might just try the patience of the reader...
and the sanity of this author. Of least importance are released recordings that
appear on 'various artist' compilation albums; a number of these have been added
as an afterthought but there are undoubtedly some missing. It may well be that
some catalogue numbers are actually barcodes and it would be appreciated if such
errors are pointed out.

Kate & Anna are the main performers unless
otherwise indicated and usually they have been very precise with musician
credits on album sleeves. Similarly they have been careful to distinguish
between the lyricist and the musical creator. At present that information has
been amalgamated although it can be assumed that any mention of Philippe
Tatartcheff implies that he has contributed French lyrics. Some effort has
been made to include details of engineers, studios, producers etc but this is
not as comprehensive as it could be. Paradoxically there are undoubtedly
credits included for personnel who actually had little or no involvement with
McGarrigle recordings as guests, but these have been included until they can be
definitively eliminated. There are a multitude of online sources that
reproduce some of the information contained here but many of them are riddled
with errors and typos. (In particular when consulting Wikipedia for confirmation
of details regarding the Dancer With Bruised Knees LP it was a
surprise to see a gaggle of respected bluegrass musicians listed for
contributions to the album - none of whom are credited on that particular album
sleeve - or actually play on the album for that matter. [This has now
been corrected]. Further research revealed over a quarter of a million hits
that had the same misinformation. Indeed an obituary of one the phantom
musicians in a highly respected UK newspaper credited him for "fine work" on the
LP.) I have done my best to filter out such mistakes but forgive me if something
erroneous has slipped through. On occasion release dates for different countries
do not align, and the one given is for the earliest known release. Dates have
been sourced from a variety of databases, some of which give dates for CD
releases of the vinyl albums that preceded them by some years. Such reissue
dates have been ignored at this stage, and many of those obscure Canadian
releases that feature guest appearances remain undated. Abbreviations on
individual pages should be obvious: UK = United Kingdom; US = United
States; CA = Canada; EU = Europe; FR = France etc.

On occasion unconfirmed
details are indicated by an asterisk*.

If you have any evidence of recordings that are not here, or details that
appear to be missing, please feel free to email me at petel99@virginmedia.com . Relevant art
work has been included although a number of images have been (mis)appropriated
from the internet and sometimes there is a conglomeration of LP and CD artwork -
if you have anything that you feel should also be included by all means get in
touch. In particular I neglected to note complete session details of the
recordings that were, for a while, available at Philippe Tatartcheff's website
and would appreciate it if anyone can supply that information. Likewise
feel free to report errors, omissions, suitable web links and any stylistic discrepancies also.